Bally’s Owner Standard General Could Make Run at CNN
Posted on: December 18, 2025, 07:11h.
Last updated on: December 18, 2025, 07:11h.
- Report suggests a Warner Bros. Discovery investor reached out to Soo Kim about potentially acquiring that company’s cable networks, including CNN.
- Kim founded Standard General, the hedge fund that owns Bally’s.
- The money manager is well-versed in the media industry.
Talk about strange bedfellows. Bally’s and CNN could eventually have the same owner. That being Soo Kim’s Standard General.
A report by the Financial Times surfaced indicating an unidentified investor in Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) reached out to Kim about the possibility of his hedge fund acquiring that media giant’s cable networks, including Animal Planet, CNN, Discovery Channel, and TNT. Warner Bros. has accepted a $72 billion takeover offer from Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) for its streaming and studio businesses.
The seller is attempting to ward off a hostile takeover bid from CBS parent Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ: PSKY), which wants to buy Warner Bros. in its entirety. Interestingly, the Standard General rumor surfaced on the same day in which another report emerged indicating an unidentified company made a $25 billion for some Warner Bros. assets and another article suggesting Warner Bros. wants Larry Ellison — father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison — to personally guarantee that company’s takeover bid.
Kim’s Standard General hasn’t commented on any potential involvement with the CNN owner.
Standard General Steeped in Media Experience
In gaming circles, Standard General is widely known as the owner of Bally’s — a regional casino operator with 15 gaming venues across 10 states — but Kim’s firm has plenty of experience in the media industry, as well.
In 2010, the hedge fund acquired regional broadcaster Young Broadcasting after it went bankrupt. Standard General rebuilt that company through a series of acquisitions and later it sold for a handsome profit to Nexstar Broadcasting. Three years ago, with the help of Apollo Global Management, Standard General attempted a $9 billion buyout of Tegna, but that deal was scrapped amid regulatory scrutiny.
That is to say the hedge fund makes for a logical buyer of Warner Bros.’ cable assets, including CNN, but it remains to be seen if such a deal comes to fruition.
As for Bally’s, the gaming company is fresh off winning a New York City casino license and putting the finishing touches on its purchase of Star Entertainment of Australia. Kim is now chairman of Star. Bally’s is also building a casino in Chicago and figuring out next steps for its operating rights at the previous site of the Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip.
Interesting Trump Ties
Should Standard General come to own CNN, it’d mark another interesting intersection for the hedge fund with the Trump family. Not only is President Trump never shy about excoriating the cable news network, but it recently partnered with prediction market operator Kalshi — a company advised by the president’s son, Don Jr.
The Trumps may well look favorably upon Kim and Standard General regardless of the association with CNN because now that Bally’s has a license to build a casino at Ferry Point in the Bronx, the gaming company must pay the Trump Organization $115 million. The Trump group previously held the lease rights to that golf course before selling those rights to Bally’s for $60 million.
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